California Bankers Association honors The Mechanics' Bank's Bonkofsky with the Compliance Professional Award

Annual award goes to long time participant of CBA's compliance issues

SACRAMENTO - October 26, 2005 - The California Bankers Association (CBA) presented its annual Compliance Professional Award to Mary Lou Bonkofsky, vice president compliance and risk manager for The Mechanics Bank, headquartered in Richmond. The award was presented to Bonkofsky at CBA's Regulatory Compliance meeting in Long Beach on October 6th.

"Mary Lou Bonkofsky has been a leader in bank compliance issues for many years," said CBA general counsel Leland Chan. "She is a consummate professional and has provided insight and leadership to an industry that is facing mounting compliance challenges. We are gratified by her commitment to her industry and wanted to recognize her efforts through this award."

The Compliance Professional Award is an annual award for CBA, and honors a single member who contributed most to the success and growth of the association in compliance issues each calendar year.

Information about CBA
Established more than 110 years ago, the California Bankers Association (CBA) is one of the largest state banking trade associations in the country. CBA leads the way in developing relevant educational and legislative solutions to some of California's more pressing financial and banking issues, including financial privacy, predatory lending, usage fees, and financial elder abuse. CBA's membership includes more than 300 of California's commercial, industrial and community banks and savings associations.